News

Phoronix


Sep 4, 2009



Ann Tancio


Sumo Lounge Omni Bean Bag Chair

While nearly all of our Linux benchmarking work at Phoronix is automated through the Phoronix Test Suite, it is still grueling and time-intensive work to setup all of the test systems, handle the management of the testing, and of course writing all of the articles and news posts. As a quick break from all of our Linux hardware testing and software benchmarking, the folks at Sumo Lounge asked to send out their Omni bean bag chairs. The Sumo Lounge Omni has been reviewed in many computer and gaming magazines as a great piece of furniture for computer gamers and has been featured in other publications like Playboy and Hooters Magazine.

Sumo Lounge was started out in early 2004 as an Internet store and their corporate philosophy is to provide comfort for your leisure time, your shopping experience, and for your wallet. Sumo Lounge does offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on the product for returning the product or rectifying any issues with the product, but it lasts for just one week after receiving the product, which is quite short. Besides the Omni bean bag chairs that is being reviewed today, Sumo Lounge also has the Otto, Sumo Gamer, Sumo Couple, Sumo Sultan, and Sumo Gigantor.

The Omni is Sumo’s most affordable product while the Otto is their smallest product and the Sumo Gigantor is their largest. The prices on these bean bag products range from $75 to $400 USD.

Our Sumo Omni review sample arrived in a very large cardboard box. The box is rather large, but considering the Omni is just filled with polystyrene beans, it is actually quite light. Inside the Omni chair was just resting within a plastic bag.

The Omni from Sumo Lounge measures in at 138 by 168 cm, but weighs just about 8 kilograms. The exterior of the Omni is made of rip-proof PVC-coated nylon that is very easy to maintain and clean. For cleaning, Sumo Lounge recommends a cloth with soapy water. While this nylon material may appear or sound uncomfortable, it is actually quite smooth to sit and relax in. Inside, the bag is filled with “top quality sumo beads”, which Sumo describes as Virgin Polystyrene Foam. Sumo Lounge states that the nylon exterior will always look brand new and that it is stain-proof, but depending upon use the polystyrene may compress over time. To fix that issue, Sumo Lounge does sell three cubic feet of their little foam balls for around $50 USD, if you wish to ever refill any of your Sumo products. Fortunately, thanks to the nylon exterior, none of the beans should leak out at all. The zipper for the Omni is also covered by nylon with velcro.

Sumo’s Omni is available in ten colors and they include pitch black, charcoal green, platinum, midnight blue, fiery red, neon orange, hot pink, pure white, lime green, and funky brown. This company also claims that there are at least ten different positions for how anyone can sit in this very large bean bag chairs. The Omni is really designed to suit just one person, but Sumo’s larger products are meant to accommodate a couple. The review sample of the Omni that we were testing out was the pitch black version. On the corner of this unique piece of furniture is the red and white Sumo tag.

Testing out the Sumo Lounge Omni was fun and interesting. Certainly, for the younger gamers this would be a nice, high quality bean bag chair from which one can easily sit in for hours while gaming. Unless your other furniture is quite low though, it may be a bit challenging to place the Omni to fit in well to serve as a conventional piece of furniture, but there are the large versions like the Sumo Couple and Sumo Gigantor, which would work much better in such a setting. The Omni could also make a great gift when sending your son or daughter off to university.

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